Before the Night Ends
by hermiones double
Summary: AU ffic. HGSS. A potion goes wrong and Hermione is sent back in time to when the Maurauders attended Hogwarts. Trying to find her way back she makes an unlikely set of friends. Chapter 2 up!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"Are you truly as brainless as you make out to be, Longbottom? This potion is a complete disaster." Snape lectured as he stood over the boiling potion, now spitting out fumes of greyish blue coloured smoke that smelt like rotten eggs. Neville said nothing, frozen to the spot out of fear of the bat-like potions master, towering over him.

I clenched my hands into fists, trying hard not to react as he turned his sneering face to mine. "Miss Granger." His cold eyes fixed on mine and my stomach felt like it had been dumped into an ice bucket. No emotions flickered in those lack eyes of his, just complete darkness. "See if you can put your barely passable skills to some use for once and help Longbottom finish his miserable potion before he kills us all with his incompetence."

I gritted my teeth as I walked over to Neville, trying hard to keep my mouth shut. I glanced at Harry and Ron who both gave me supportive grins which I returned.

"You okay, Neville?" I asked as I reached him to find him quivering as he continued to chop up his rose stalks with shaking hands. I shooed him off to peel the boomslang skins before he chopped off one of his fingers.

"I'm okay." He whispered back, frowning as some of the pulp pulled away with the skin. I shook my head not knowing how he managed it. "Snape just scares me, that's all."

I sighed picking up the metal spoon and stirred the potion clockwise whilst adding the crushed beetle eyes Neville had done earlier. I frowned as the potion turned to a murky brown colour. Wasn't it supposed to turn to a dark orange? I mentioned this to Neville who just shrugged and said it looked orangey. Not satisfied I picked up a couple of the rose petals and dropped them in, smiling when it turned more of an orange colour. Trust Neville to forget to add an ingredient.

"Five minutes left." Snape announced to the class as he wandered around the classroom, checking on their potions and sneering every now and then. The only nod of approval he gave was to Malfoy's potion which was a navy blue colour. Malfoy gave Goyle a low five under the desk and gave me a self-satisfied smirk. I frowned back ignoring, glancing up at the blackboard. My frown deepened when I looked down at the text book. It said to add 1 litre of snake venom mixed with ½ a litre of milk. Snape's spider like scrawl on the blackboard said to add 1 litre of milk mixed with ½ a litre of snake venom.

I opened my mouth to ask when I saw Snape hounding on Ron and Harry's potions, though they didn't look much different from what he praise of Malfoy's.

Thinking it was more likely Snape would mess up than a trusty old text book I mixed together the litre of snake venom and ½ litre of milk in a beaker, stirring it with a tablespoon before pouring it into the cauldron. It hissed as I poured it in and a lot of steam billowed out causing me to jump back, worried. But nothing happened, the potion bubbled away happily and, satisfied, I turned and started clearing up.

As I turned back I saw Neville stirring the cauldron feverishly, his face a pale white. "What's wrong?"

He stared at me, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't realise you hadn't added the beetle eyes and I already put the venom and milk in!"

"What?!" I yelled. As Snape turned to scold me for shouting his eyes widened at the sight of the cauldron. I turned just in time to see it exploding as everyone else ducked, and I ended up getting covered in the stinking potion. It tingled against my bare skin for a few moments before the tingling turned to a burning sensation. I screamed in agony as it felt as though my skin was melting off my very bones. The pain became too much and I blacked out from the pure agony, the last thing I saw being Snape striding towards me, an unknown emotion in his glittering black eyes.

I woke slowly, finding myself lying in bed in the hospital wing. Tentatively, I touched my skin, finding it sore, but intact. Harry and Ron must have rushed me to the hospital wing, I thought.

I sat up slowly at the sound of murmuring to see Madam Pomfrey talking to Harry who had his back to me. I frowned thinking Madam Pomfrey must have used a charm to dye her hair or something, because she was looking a lot younger than before.

"Harry!" I called, letting him know I was awake.

He turned and I froze seeing this boy wasn't Harry, though he was almost identical. His eyes were dark brown, not the emerald green Harry's were, and the lightning bolt shaped scar was absent from his forehead. He smiled seeing I was awake.

"Oh, good. You seem okay." He said.

Madam Pomfrey huffed. "Of course she's okay, Mr. Potter. She's under my care."

"P-Potter?!" I stuttered, barely daring to believe it.

The boy gave me a lopsided smile. "Yeah, James Potter. Nice to meet you."

I stared at James for a few moments before I fell back onto the bed in a dead faint.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Yay! People like my story! I'm so happy! Alright, quick notes, this is set in Hermione's 7th year at Hogwarts. Voldemort was defeated by Harry in their 5th year, shortly after the death of Sirius, which I think I do mention. When Hermione goes back in time, she arrives in everyone's 7th year, so she is technically the same age as James, Sirius and people. Okay that's it. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask! Love you all! Enjoy.

Chapter 2:

The next time I woke, I hoped that I had dreamt that I had just met Harry's father, and I would open my eyes to find Harry and Ron sitting beside my bed, waiting for me to recover.

As soon as I opened my eyes I immediately knew it hadn't been a dream, from just looking over at Madam Pomfrey, still looking younger, making a fuss over the student in the next bed over, who appeared to have grown a large pair of bat like ears and was complaining about being blind.

I sat up slowly, wincing slightly at my stiffness from being in bed too long.

"For god's sake, please stop fidgeting Mr. Snape, or I'll never be able to get your sight back to normal!"

I froze in mid-stretch and did a double take of the pale teenager in the bed next to me. He had the same hook nose, the same lanky build, the same long greasy hair that framed his face that Snape in my time had; but something was different. His currently sightless eyes were glittering with emotion; anger, frustration and hate. To see those emotions on his face was quite intriguing. Heck, if he washed his hair, he'd be quite attractive.

I shook my head, banishing such thoughts of the future to-be-hated Potions master. Harry and Ron would never forgive me if I started thinking of Snape that way. They already gave me a hard time for telling them we should respect Snape as a Hogwarts teacher and former spy for Dumbledore against Voldemort, before his defeat at Harry's hands two years ago, (in my time), shortly after Sirius' death.

"Now, who cursed you to be a bat?" Madam Pomfrey asked, having finally managed to fix Snape of his sight and moving to work on his ears.

Snape's black eyes hardened in hatred. "Guess? Potter and Black, of course."

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I don't know how many times those two will have to get detention before they finally learn to behave. At this rate they're going to end up getting themselves expelled from Hogwarts."

Snape made a very uncharacteristic snort. "Dumbledore will never do it. They're his favourites after all."

Madam Pomfrey shook her head, disagreeing as she stepped back, examining Snape's ears from a distance, double checking their size. "Even so make sure to report this to Professor Slughorn, alright? You can go now."

Snape felt his ears to reassure himself of their normalcy before shaking his head so his hair fell like black curtains around his face. As he stood he saw me watching him and raised one eyebrow. "What?" He snapped.

I felt my face go red and quickly turned away, mumbling "nothing" and mentally scolding myself for blushing at Snape.

I turned back at the sound of people entering the hospital wing, starting to see James walk in with a handsome boy, his wavy dark hair curling about his face to give him a charming innocent look.

"Hey!" James greeted as he reached me, not seeing Snape as he skulked out, shooting both me and the boys evil glares as he left. An urge to explain things to him rushed through me, but I quickly quelled it.

I forced a smile at James, wanting to associate with him as little as possible so I didn't end up changing history and in turn changing the future.

"This is Sirius, my best mate. He's the one who found you, lying unconscious in the dungeons." My eyes widened only just recognising Sirius as the handsome boy with James as he was introduced. He looked so different. It just shows how Azkaban and being on the run can affect someone so drastically. A wave of sadness fell over me as I thought how both these boys were dead in my time. Sirius nodded in greeting and I smiled back. This was so weird, I thought.

"We still don't know your name? What house are you in? I don't think I've seen you before."

"Hermione." I answered before I could stop myself. "Um, I'm not in a house yet, I transferred here from… Beauxbatons." I said quickly, picking the first story that came to mind.

"Huh, you don't sound French." Sirius said.

I mentally kicked myself. "Well, my parents are English, and the French accent didn't really rub off on me."

"Quand meme vous devriez être capables de parler le français coulant, oui? J'ai appris de ma grande tante quand elle a eu l'habitude de nous visiter. Elle n'écouterait pas que quelqu'un a dit á moins qu'il ne soit dans le français. Il était ennuyeux d'apprendre. L'avez-vous trouvé difficile?" I stared at Sirius as he spouted out French, not having a clue on what he was saying.

"Urm, oui?" I replied, using the only French I knew. Luckily Sirius seemed satisfied with my answer.

"Can you guys keep it English? I don't know French!" James asked, looking as confused as I felt. "Anyway, how did you end up unconscious in the dungeons?"

"I, urm, don't remember." I replied, unable to think up a good excuse. How the hell was I going to get back? Then I had a thought. "I need to go see Dumbledore." I said suddenly, almost knocking James and Sirius over in my haste to get up and out.

"Do you want us to take you?" Sirius asked as Madam Pomfrey stopped me halfway to the door to double check I was in good enough condition to leave the hospital wing.

"Urm…" I hesitated. I wanted to spend as little time with anyone as possible, but it would look suspicious if I already knew where Dumbledore's office was. Besides it might have been in a different place from where it was in the future. So I reluctantly agreed and, with Madam Pomfrey's okay, they led me away, through the many corridors and stairs, up to Dumbledore´s office. Whilst we walked they told me all about the pros and cons of Hogwarts, the teachers to watch out for and such.

I pretended to listen; paying more attention to the actual castle around me, surprised on how much was still the same. A couple of times I thought I saw some students that were around in my time when I realised they must be their future parents that looked a lot like them, just like Harry and James.

They said goodbye once we reached Dumbledore's office, which was in the same place. I stood outside, realising I didn't know the password.

"Can I help you?" Relief flooded over me when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned to see Professor Dumbledore looking almost exactly the same, only his beard was slightly shorter, and his hair wasn't quite as white. His bright blue eyes were glinting mischievously behind his half-moon glasses.

"Oh, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Thank goodness. I need your help-"

"All in good time my dear. First let's talk in my office, shall we?" He interrupted. "Sherbet Lemon." The stone gargoyle leapt to one side, revealing the hidden stairway that led up to Dumbledore's circular office, with tables covered in small, silver, spindly instruments, large bookcases full of books that I would love to devour given the chance, a large desk covered in papers, and a perch over to one side with Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet pheonix, looking magnificent with his red and gold plumage. The walls were covered in portraits of the previous headmasters of Hogwarts: most of which were dozing.

Dumbledore had me sit in a comfy chair by the desk opposite him. "Jelly Baby?" He offered, holding out a small bowl of multicoloured sweets in the shape of cartoon like babies. I took a couple to be polite. "Now, how can I help you?"

I explained the whole story to him; not missing out any detail in case it was important, hoping Dumbledore would believe me and not think I was mad.

"I see." Dumbledore said, once I had finished, his hands together with only the tips of his fingers touching, surveying me over his half-moon glasses. He stood slowly and wandered over to the bookcase, his back to me. He looked over the books, one hand stroking his beard, the other folded behind his back. "Well, Miss Granger, I believe that you made the very rare Aevum Meare potion. Almost impossible to make, and forbidden by the ministry of magic."

"Aevum Meare?" I repeated, never hearing of such a thing before. "Time travel?!" I asked, translating the Latin.

Dumbledore nodded, taking a book from the shelf and flicking it open to a bookmarked page before handing it to me.

I skimmed through the text freezing as I read the antidote. "The only way to return back to the original time," I read out loud. "Is to add the extra ingredient of the blood of someone from the original time, who was present at the creation of the potion, as well as the traveller, to create a focal point for the potion."

"That is why the potion is forbidden." Dumbledore said, picking up the book and reading through the text himself. "The blood is the focal point, so you can get back to your own time and not end up somewhere random. But if the potion sends you to a time when no blood is available, then the traveller is stuck and cannot return."

"Couldn't they just take a vial of blood with them?" I asked my thirst for learning getting the better of me.

"No, that was tried. One very lucky wizard who took the blood with him and managed to get back says the blood is lost during the journey. Why? Well, that's one of the few mysteries of our world."

"I'm stuck here then. All the people that were there when the potion exploded haven't been born yet."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Are you sure?"

I froze as I realised. Great. How the hell was I going to get blood from Severus Snape?


End file.
